New Gambling Expansion Bill

A bill to expand gambling in Illinois will once again be considered by the General Assembly. Lawmakers would have two options in the new bill. Under one plan, a state-owned casino would be built in Chicago, with the city and state splitting revenues evenly. The second option would authorize a smaller Chicago casino, along with new casinos in Lake, Winnebago, and Vermillion counties, as well as in Chicago’s south suburbs.

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State Rep. Bob Rita believes his bill will succeed where others have failed. “What makes sense is that we scale this back, take two different approaches which generates a lot of money for the state and these local regions,” Rita said. “My hope is to see which direction… the General Assembly would like to go on this.” The bill would also limit what gambling revenue can be spent on to education and construction projects at the state level, and capital projects and pensions locally. Rita says he wants each of his amendments to the bill to be discussed in its own hearing.